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NEW ULM - Many of the people who visit its author's childhood home in New Ulm recognize the book "Millions Of Cats."

Just ask Wanda Gag House docent Art Schulz, a retired professor of children's literature who now takes those visitors on tours of author Wanda Gag's house. He said few visitors to the house have never heard of the book.

The hardcover and paperback copies are the two items in the house's gift shop area that Schulz has to reorder most often. T-shirts and sweatshirts with the book's title and its author's name are also popular, he said.

The display cases in the dining room of the house have the Korean, Chinese and Japanese versions of "Millions Of Cats," along with an English edition that has pages measured in feet instead of inches.

Schulz knows the reason for the book's popularity.

"It's black and white, but that doesn't make much difference to children, really, it's story is captivating," he said.

"Millions Of Cats" is the story of an elderly couple who decide to get a cat out of loneliness and end up finding not one but millions and billions and trillions of cats and bring them all home because they can't decide which one would be the best pet. But once the old woman points out the couple can't support that many, it is up to the cats to decide which is the prettiest.

Published on Sept. 10, 1928, the book made Wanda Gag a star in the universe of children's literature.

However, the book world doesn't really mark anniversaries. The Wanda Gag House Association does mark the occasion because "Millions Of Cats" was "a milestone for what it meant to Wanda Gag. It gained Wanda Gag a position as an author of children's books and got her work as an author of them," Schulz said.

"It was published on Sept. 10, 1928. It's a hallmark in children's literature among illustrated stories. One reason was the integration of text and illustration. Secondly, she pioneered the two-page spread," Schulz said.

Martin Luther College professor and Wanda Gag House Association board member John Isch said the anniversary is important because the book 'opened a new way of looking at a children's book. It flows from one page to the other. It's a different way to look and read a book."

The fact that "Millions Of Cats" has stayed in print for 80 years means people are still buying and still reading it, Isch said.

Assessing the book's popularity these days is tough.

"There is a generation that hasn't read it or doesn't recall it. But in generations before it, it's unusual not to find someone who hasn't read it. As with most books, it goes in and out of style," Isch said.

Popularity notwithstanding, Isch doesn't think "Millions Of Cats" will ever disappear "because it's a great story. It illustrates something about all of us."

Karen Nelson Hoyle, curator of the Children's Literature Research Center at the University of Minnesota said the fact that "Millions Of Cats" has stayed in print since 1928 is "quite remarkable these days."

"Children's books go out of print quickly. If it doesn't sell, publishing companies don't want to keep the inventory," she said.

One of things that Hoyle thinks keeps "Millions Of Cats" alive is the creativity of Wanda Gag's storytelling. Gag's printmaking abilities are also what make it special, since she had already established herself as a printmaker in New York before the book was published.

"Millions Of Cats" was a runner-up for the Newberry Book Award in 1928. Hoyle said she believes its artwork would have won a Caldecott Award, had the award existed at the time.